CDT supervisor awarded inaugural John Mallard Award

Posted 14th December 2016

Professor Paul Marsden has been awarded the inaugural John Mallard Award for his continued pioneering contributions to Medical Physics.

Being presented for the first time, the international award recognises Professor Marsden’s work in developing a positron emission tomography (PET) detector system that functions properly and safely inside a MRI scanner.

He was the first to demonstrate simultaneous PET and Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) using an animal model, predicting that human PET/MR imaging was possible. As a result of his pioneering work, whole body PET/MR systems were commercially available by 2010 and King’s installed the second such system in the UK in 2014.

Professor Marsden is Professor of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Physics, and Director of PET Medical Physics at King’s and Guy’s and St Thomas’ PET Centre. Under his scientific leadership, the PET Centre has become one of the leading PET clinical and research facilities in the UK. He currently

On being awarded, he said: ‘I’m very honoured to be recognised in this way, and to be the recipient of the first-ever John Mallard award is fantastic!’

‘John Mallard has made pioneering contributions in both MRI and radionuclide imaging, so it is very appropriate that the first time this award had been made it is for bringing together these two powerful and complementary techniques.’

Professor David Brettle, President of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), said: ‘It is fitting the first John Mallard Award has been won by Paul for developing new methods and techniques in PET/MRI, given Professor Mallard’s pioneering work in this field.’

Professor Marsden received the award at the 22nd International Conference on Medical Physics in Bangkok, Thailand, on 9 December 2016.

The newly created award honours the pioneering work of Professor John Mallard OBE, who played a crucial role in the development of two of the world’s most important medical technologies – Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET).